I found this list on the Listverse site. I cannot say that I agree with all of it, but it does make some interesting points.
Top 10 Sci Fi Inventions that Should not be Invented
Top 10 Sci Fi Inventions that Should not be Invented
Top Ten Sci-Fi Inventions That Should Not Be Invented
- Thread starter Bar Sinister
- Start date
Yeah, I have to disagree about the teleporters. A copy of a copy of a copy is sh it, but the ink doesn't re-grow, a few atoms from your hair, that's nothing, really. A few atoms here or there? You shed billions of atoms every time you take a dump. Atoms are rearranged in our bodies constantly.
Ever pick up the phone and the person you were going to call has called your number? No dial tone, you pick it up, and they're already on the line. I'd be more worried about something like that than a few atoms here or there.
Ever pick up the phone and the person you were going to call has called your number? No dial tone, you pick it up, and they're already on the line. I'd be more worried about something like that than a few atoms here or there.
Synchronicity worries you? There are no coincidences. There is a reason for everything. Doesn't that pic your curiosity?
I read a long time ago about IBM trying to build replicators. Essentially putting the atomic ingredients into a machine, which puts them together by some molecular schematic plan. Can you imagine what that would do? Need some gold, a replica of that camera etc? Just add the ingredients and set for 2 minutes on high.
According to your beliefs. Do you have any proof of this or are you like the BAC's you like to insult.
The bonus time machine has already been invented. I saw that exact machine on "The Big Bang Theory"
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Ummm, what happens when someone teleports into the space you're currently occupying? In case it wasn't clear, that is what I was referring to. Yes, that would concern me.
Yeah, me too, and not just someone, some thing. What if you teleport into the middle of some solid object? I'd assume if this is possible at all (and frankly I seriously doubt that it is) there'd have to be both a transmitter and a receiver, the Star Trek style of doing it without a receiver seems even more improbable to me than doing it at all. A receiver would relieve that concern, the two ends of the link would prevent such collisions, just as current networking technology manages data packet collisions, but even so, unless you teleport into very hard vacuum, there will be molecules of something in the space you're moving into, and quantum uncertainty pretty much guarantees that whoever shows up at the receiver end will not be identical to the person who left from the transmitter end. It's not possible to exactly replicate the precise configuration of every quantum particle in your body.
Teleporting matter is another matter. What about personality? Is it attached to matter or is it separate? In the leap through space, could a personality be hijacked or replaced in transit (as in hacked)?
Well, slight changes in the neural pathways in your brain could eradicate memories. I'm sure it could have an effect on your mood and personality as well.
What evidence we have certainly suggests it's attached to matter, it seems to be an emergent property of the brain's complexity and brain injuries or diseases can change it. On the other hand though, every atom in your body gets swapped out for another one on a regular basis and that doesn't seem to affect it, so if it's not separate it must lie in the organization and structure of the matter, not the matter itself.
One Sci/fi invention that I don't think science fiction could do with out, is hyperspace or faster than light travel. Any travel between the stars absolutely requires FTL travel if we are to avoid nasty time dilation problems that would make Captain Kirk old, or keep him young depending which way everybody is going.
In order for teleportation to be of any practical value it would have the have the following qualities:
1. It would have to avoid moving objects to places already occupied by other objects
2. It would have to copy the atomic structure of the object being moved exactly so that there was no danger to the object
3. It would would have to be reasonably energy efficient to operate.
I prefer the matter transmitter device envisioned by Robert Heinlein. In Heinlein's universe gates were created by sending robotic starships to distant star systems. When they discovered one the ship landed, set up a matter transmitter and sent a signal through it back to Earth. Explorers were then sent through the gate to check out the planet that had been discovered. If after careful investigation the planet was found to be safe, then colonists were sent through the gate to colonize the planet.
So far as I know Heinlein never envisioned matter transmitters for short range use, but why not? It would certainly make worldwide travel fast and efficient.
Nanobots, genetic engineering, and artificial intelligence are other inventions I have no problem with. Interestingly, of the inventions listed, those three are those that we are closest to achieving.
1. It would have to avoid moving objects to places already occupied by other objects
2. It would have to copy the atomic structure of the object being moved exactly so that there was no danger to the object
3. It would would have to be reasonably energy efficient to operate.
I prefer the matter transmitter device envisioned by Robert Heinlein. In Heinlein's universe gates were created by sending robotic starships to distant star systems. When they discovered one the ship landed, set up a matter transmitter and sent a signal through it back to Earth. Explorers were then sent through the gate to check out the planet that had been discovered. If after careful investigation the planet was found to be safe, then colonists were sent through the gate to colonize the planet.
So far as I know Heinlein never envisioned matter transmitters for short range use, but why not? It would certainly make worldwide travel fast and efficient.
Nanobots, genetic engineering, and artificial intelligence are other inventions I have no problem with. Interestingly, of the inventions listed, those three are those that we are closest to achieving.